The incident inspired the Crue classic “Kickstart My Heart.” Sixx has said that an EMT brought him back from the brink of death by injecting adrenaline straight into his heart.

In a new interview with Triple M (via Blabbermouth), Adler claimed he was responsible for saving Sixx in a hotel room before the EMTs arrived – though he had no problem with another story being told. “[Sixx] wrote it about the paramedics took that syringe and did that Pulp Fiction thing to him," Adler said. "But they didn’t do that. … I dragged him into the shower with a broken hand and a cast on my hand. … I rolled him in, I put the cold water on him in the shower and I started slapping him in the face with my cast.

“And the next thing you know, the purple in his face just disappeared. And then, right then, the paramedics came in and they grabbed him out of the shower like a rag doll, dropped him in the living room and they just pumped his chest with their hands. And that was it. But he got a hell of a good song out of it. It is entertainment, after all.”

The conversation arose after Adler had been asked about the rumor that Crue borrowed a Guns N’ Roses riff for their song “Dr. Feelgood.” “Nikki is a genius," Adler said. "He is one step ahead of everybody. But he didn’t steal nothing from nobody. … I’m telling you, he is the sharpest person. … He ruled the ‘80s. He ran the ‘80s. Everything that he did, every band did after he did it.”

Adler’s band, Adler's Appetite, are touring Australia from May 16 to May 26.